The Lump
by Falcon Strife
Summary: -Oneshot-  Tamao's first night in a boy's bedroom leads to an embarrassing situation.


**Title**: The Lump  
**Rating**: T  
**Genre**: Romance/Humor  
**Summary**: Tamao's first night in a boy's bedroom leads to an embarrassing situation.  
**Disclaimer**: Shaman King is © Hiroyuki Takei.

* * *

Tamao's eyebrows twitched nervously as she turned onto her side for about the twentieth time, and then looked at the alarm clock that glowed faintly on the night table. It was a little after two in the morning. She bit her lip, wondering how she was going to get to sleep. Normally she would fall asleep half an hour after turning off the light, but it was certainly not the case tonight. She propped herself up on her right elbow and looked back when she heard a faint snore, and then turned bright red while quickly looking back to the clock. Now she was certain she wouldn't get back to sleep, but still she settled down on the pillow again and sighed.

She felt movement behind her, and then squeaked when a broad arm wrapped around her stomach, and then groaned when she felt a smile cross her face as stiff hairs tickled her neck. After several long seconds passed, the snoring began once again and she sighed while nervously placing her left hand on the embracing arm.

Not once had he been inappropriate to her, excluding the friendly kisses he tried so often to give her. He was certainly more capable of displays of affection that she was.

"Watch out for his kisses," friends had told her. "They're his number one seducer once their planted."

She smiled weakly. She didn't know anything about kisses, save what she had learned in the last two months from him. She knew that they felt good, and from what she could tell his clumsy advances were meant to hide his talent.

"Watch out for solitude," girls had told her. "He'll try to get you to third base."

What was 'third base' anyway, if not a baseball term? She had been alone with him plenty of times, even before they had started going out. As far as she could tell, nothing had ever happened. Unless of course he was planning, but he always seemed distracted with one thing or another since returning home.

"You're nuts," Ren had told her bluntly. "Any guy who offers to share a bed is looking for action."

"Don't make promises you don't intend to keep," Anna warned. "You see it to the end when you start something."

Tamao would never understand what made her think that Anna and Ren were the ones to get support from. She did have the sense to talk to Manta about the proposal, however.

"It's great you guys are getting along so well," the human had said joyfully. When asked about Ren's comment, Manta became much more awkward. "All I can tell you," he said while blushing, "is to watch for… uh… a lump pressing against you. That's when you draw the line if you aren't ready to go further."

She hadn't needed Manta to explain the lump. She may have been shy and reserved, but she wasn't ignorant.

She sighed silently while forcing her eyes to shut. She had to get some sleep at some point. Thinking about Manta's support seemed to help lull her into a doze, if nothing else. She didn't have time to actually sleep however; she felt him move a bit, embrace her more firmly, and a hard lump press against the back of her upper thighs. Her instinctive reaction was to squeal while pulling away.

"Hm,… Wha izz it?" Ryu slurred while opening his eyes, and then stared confusedly at Tamao. "You okay, Hun?"

"Ryu, I'm drawing the line! Or… uh… a line?" She thought for a moment, unsure of how she should have responded, but quickly remembered it was unimportant. "I know we're going out, and I really like being with you and I'd like it if we worked out but Ryu I'm having enough trouble with the 'adult' kisses and I'm not ready to do that yet!" she cried in one long, speedy sentence.

Ryu stared at her, still half asleep and utterly confused. "You aren't ready to sleep?" he asked dumbly. "Hun, if you wanna go down and watch TV or something that's fine with me, but Anna's got me on a busy schedule tomorrow." He yawned and laid his head down, ready to fall back to sleep.

"Huh?" She stared at him for a moment, and then frowned. "Ryu, don't talk like that to me," she said in a meek tone. "I know what you were up to."

"'Ow'd you guess?" he mumbled tiredly.

"'Cause… well…" She blushed while looking down at the mattress. "The lump…"

Ryu opened his eyes part way and looked up at her. "The what?"

"The lump," she repeated more determinedly. "I'm not ready to do… um... Mommy-Daddy things…"

Ryu stared at her with his jaw hanging. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ooh…" Tamao, flustered and unable to find any other way of putting it, finally said in a panicked voice, "I don't want to have sex, so go to the bathroom and please yourself!"

"In the name of Kami-sama, what are you going on about?" Ryu demanded irritably. "I was fast asleep, and how the devil would you know if I was aroused or not anyway?"

"W-Well…" Tamao stammered as Ryu held a hand over his eyes. "Manta said to draw the line at lumps."

"Nothing wrong with that. Want me to prove getting laid is the last thing on my mind tonight?" he demanded. "I'm not aroused. Now get a grip or let me go back to sleep."

"But… I felt it…" Tamao murmured confusedly. "After you moved."

Ryu frowned thoughtfully for a moment, and then pulled his blanket off of him. "Any chance it was my knee you felt?" he demanded.

When Tamao investigated, she was surprised to find that his pelvic region was too far away, not to mention too high up on the mattress to have been what she felt. She wouldn't admit that she had briefly glanced 'down there' to see if he was telling the truth, but from what she could tell from the shape of his boxers he had been telling the truth. She almost felt sad at the thought of her boyfriend not being attracted to her. The key evidence, however, was that when Ryu turned he had tucked his knees, which were in the perfect position for such misunderstandings.

"Oh…" Tamao said nervously. "I'm sorry."

"Can't I go back to sleep now?" Ryu asked, his irritated tone now a pathetic whine.

"Yeah," Tamao replied while laying down on her side. "I'm sorry I'm so stupid."

"You aren't stupid, Hun," Ryu sighed while rolling onto his back. "I love you."

Tamao smiled faintly. "I love you too."

Ten minutes passed, and Tamao had almost fallen asleep when she heard a frustrated growl. She opened her eyes when she felt Ryu move for the nineteenth time since they had settled the issue. He was now getting up and attempting to climb over her and off of the bed.

"Ryu, where you going?" she asked confusedly.

"To the bathroom," Ryu muttered. "Now that you got me on the subject it's all I keep thinking about."

Tamao blushed embarrassedly as Ryu, with a defeated slouch, dragged himself out of the bedroom.


End file.
